Dejounte Murray has entered COVID Health and Safety Protocols

Spurs starting point guard Dejounte Murray has entered COVID Health and Safety Protocols and will miss at least Sunday’s home game against the Detroit Pistons. The updated injury report also confirmed that Doug McDermott will be available (as expected) after undergoing a dental procedure for a tooth infection.

The Spurs have been more fortunate than many teams this season when it comes to losing players to COVID protocols. Murry is the just the third Spur to enter this season, after Jakob Poeltl and Jock Landale each missed time early. Current rules indicate that a player who tests positive for COVID must wait 10 days and at least 24 hours since a fever broke (if he has any) and test negative two consecutive times before returning.

Assuming Murray has tested positive, the soonest he could return would be on January 5 against the Boston Celtics, although he would likely need a few extra days to get back into playing shape. The Spurs will be in the middle of a seven-game road trip and East Coast FIGASENI at that time. A rare exception would be if the test ended up being a false positive, which happened with LeBron James recently. After being put in Protocols after posting a negative and positive on the same day, he was released after three-straight negative tests and never being symptomatic proved it was a false positive.

Unrelated to Murray’s test results, the Spurs have recalled rookie Josh Primo and two-way players Joe Weiskamp and Devontae Cacok from Austin while the G League is on a holiday hiatus until January 5. While the Spurs are still pretty deep at guard even without Murray, this might be another opportunity for Primo to get more valuable NBA playing time.